Fenimore Asset Management Inc Increases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 125,326 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,170 shares during the quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc owned 0.09% of Verisk Analytics worth $37,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the first quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $319.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.86, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $300.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.73.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,603 shares of company stock worth $3,904,741. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.

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